Thursday, August 02, 2012

With the 2012 Summer Olympics in London happening right now and with the Dodgers retooled to compete for a playoff spot, Matt Treanor, the Dodgers backup catcher can only watch on the television as his better-half competes for another gold. As you know, Matt Treanor and Misty May Treanor have been happily married for almost 8 years, and unsurprisingly he has never had a chance to see her battle for Olympic glory. Ken Gurnick at MLB has the story:

"Misty's very understanding of what I do," Treanor said. "Of course, I
want to be there to support her. But she knows that I'm watching. I
won't say it doesn't take a toll on the relationship. I want to be there
for the end result, good or bad. It's tough, but it's the path we
chose."
...
"I'm excited and nervous," he said. "Probably like her watching me play.
When I watch her, I have no control. She's probably way more
comfortable playing than I am watching her."

No doubt we are all pushing for her and Kerri Walsh to take home the gold.

If you didn't have a chance to see this previously after their match against the Czech Republic, you can now watch it on youtube. Misty May gave a shout out to her husband and the Dodgers. Woo Hoo! She is definitely True Blue. It's a little hard to hear so turn up the volume. Furthermore, I wouldn't be surprised if this gets taken down, so watch it now before the Olympic authorities or NBC have it taken down.

Since I am stuck on the west coast during this years National Sports Collectors Convention, all I can do is live vicariously through the photos of others in order to get my fix. Fortunately, twitter is a great tool for satisfying my voyeuristic desires.

First, check out Sports Collectors Daily for their report of opening day at "The National" which includes a great video of some vintage material, and Panini America on their very first day setting up at the show. Then go to Things are Funner Here card blog for her report on Day 1. He has plenty of pics; including a Babe Ruth Dodgers jersey. All About Cards has his own Day 1 report. On facebook, Sports Card Radio has a bunch of photos to look through. Now for some twitter pics, check out some Day 1 photos I ran into from the show in Baltimore below. BTW, click on any pic to embiggen.

To start, here is what greets you when you enter the concourse. Twitterer @yowhatupbroth shares this photo.

For more pics than you can imagine be sure to follow @SportsCardNews. Here is a view of some of the cards from the recently publicized "Black Swamp Find" of vintage E98 Baseball caramel cards. A Honus Wagner is one the left, and on the right is a Ty Cobb. Then, look at that stack to the left of the Wagner. Is that a stack of graded Wagner's? Holy Moly! I had read there were nearly 700 E98 cards found.

Again, from @SportsCardNews is a great pic of probably the rarest 90's Baseball card. Here is a President George Bush 1990 Topps card featuring him in his Yale University Baseball uniform. It is believed only about 100 or so cards where made and passed along directly to President Bush by the Topps Chairman, but somehow a handful of copies made there way into actual Topps packs.

Of course, cards and memorabilia aren't the only things at the show. There are also many autograph opportunities. Here is "should-be" Hall of Famer Jack Morris signing for fans. Pic via @SportsCardNews.

Here is my 2007 Topps Finest autographed rookie card of former Dodgers prospect and local kid Delwyn Young. At one time, I thought this guy could become a mainstay with the team. Unfortunately, he could never stick. Eventually, he would be traded in 2009 to the Pirates for a couple of other prospects. Today, Delwyn appears to not be playing ball with a Major League club.